Interview with Paolo Tiefenthaler about Casale del Giglio

Paolo Tiefenthaler, oenologist of Casale del Giglio

Paolo Tiefenthaler is the oenologist of Casale del Giglio, he agreed to be interviewed.

1) When and where were you born?

I was born in Trento, on 9th february 1967.

2) How old were you when you started being interested about wine?

I started to be interested when i was very young, let's say primary school-middle school, cause i grew up in a beautiful area full of grapes, Valle di Cembra.

3) What did u study to become an oenologist?

I studied in istituto agrario di San Michele all'Adige, 6 years of oenology and i studied in Germany.





4) When and how did you start working for Casale del Giglio?

I began to work for Casale del Giglio on august 1988 after leaving a famous tuscan winery (i had a 10 month scolarship there).

5) Since 1985, what are the milestones for Casale del Giglio?

The milestones are: 1985 the beginning of the experimentation; 1989 large-scale planting of grape varieties; 1994 the first bottle of Mater Matuta [the best bottle of Casale del Giglio, a blend of 85% syrah and 15% of petit verdot].

6) How did you choose the grape varieties?

I come from a place with a strong tradition of wine and the first thing i decided was not to plant grape varieties only because they were famous in other areas; i tried to plant the grape varities that were suitable for this area [area of Casale del Giglio, in Lazio]

7) Which is the best selling bottle of Casale del Giglio?

The best selling bottle is Shiraz (in the pic above).

8) Will you ever choose to make a wine with native grape varities? (Casale del Giglio chose international varities)

If you talk about native grape varities to me (i'm from Valle di Cembra), i do agree; but if you talk about native grape varities related to Pontine Marshes, it's almost impossible to talk about it (before the 1930's there were only marshes there).

9) How important is marketing in wine?

In the world of the wine, marketing is importnat, but it must not be more important than the nature itself. The making of the wine and the marketing must help each other.

10) How many bottles does Casale del Giglio make, per year?

Casale del Giglio has 170 hectares, we make 90 quintals of wine per hectare; we make 1,200,000 bottles per year.